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Showing posts from March, 2018

Black on Bay Ball – Celebrating 20 years of change on the Street

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Award winner - Daouli Abouchere - sweir photo . Dr. Fearon interviewed in hall by Planet Africa TV Black on Bay Ball – Celebrating 20 years of change on the Street By Stephen Weir On Saturday night the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP) marked 20 years of toiling mightily for the advancement and inclusion of black leaders in the Canadian financial services industry with what else? A black tie ball on Bay Street.   It was one part looking at the future, another part looking back to when diversity was an unspoken word on the Street but for the most part, it was a blowout party amongst hundreds of colleagues and friends! The Black on Bay Ball was a sold-out fete in Toronto’s famed Arcadian Court. The iconic art deco hall is on the 8 th floor of the Hudson Bay building at the corner of Bay and Queen Streets. The Ball ticked off all the right boxes. A red carpet reception. Caribbean style ha

500 attend Epic Carnival’s Saturday night launch

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Merman can’t dance, but has an Epic amount of fun trying BatGirl-weir photo By Stephen Weir for Caribbean Camera I don’t know anything about   Ryan Oldham (aka Farmer) aside from the fact that he dances worse than me (and I am the undisputed King of the Misstep). But early early Sunday morning his dancing stole the show at Epic Carnival’s Scarborough costume launch.   It was 1.30am and there were 500 people inside Hall C of the Chandni Grand Banquet Hall. The last of the night’s 10 sections – Myth of the Sea - was on stage. Raesha Sirois, the former Face of the Toronto Caribana Carnival, was the very last model to come on stage. She was wearing a striking ultra frontline lime green mermaid costume, complete with fishnet stockings, fish scales in her facial makeup, shells in in her headpiece and white and orange feathers. Can't dance but he stole the show All of the cameras and smart phones were recording her every move-- that was until Farmer started to bang his

Networking Conference For Black Business Professionals Told To Keep Up With The Times

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Association opens the Toronto Stock Exchange prior to the conference and ball BY STEPHEN WEIR FOR THE CARIBBEAN CAMERA After 20-years of pushing for the advancement and inclusion of Black leaders into the Canadian financial services industry, the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP) has learned a thing or two about how to succeed on Bay Street. Last Friday, the Association held a chalk talk to teach visible minorities how to succeed in a wildly changing work environment. CAUFP organized a one-day conference for Black business and finance professionals to learn about issues and trends impacting Canada’s finance industry and finance professions. They called it the  No Boundaries Conference  and over a hundred people came out to attend it in a conference hall on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. “The theme of the 2018 conference was the Future of Finance” explained association president Abdul-Aziz Garuba. “ What we did was focus on the emerging trends tha

First Toronto costume launch attracts 1,000

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--> Carnival season in Toronto begins with Venom More fashion show than a costume launch, the 2018 carnival season kicked off on Saturday night with a big bite of   snake venom. The Venom Carnival mas band staged the first costume launch   of the 2018   season and attracted over 1,000 paying customers, most of whom were there for the entertainment of seeing what will be worn on the parade route this summer! “ Last year we held our first launch at a club that had a capacity of 750, which we maxed out by the time the show started,” said Aneil Persad , Managing Director at  Venom Carnival INC “ This year we moved to a bigger hall (Chandni Grand in Scarborough), and by the time the music started we had over 1,000 people inside.” Venom is a new band – this is year number two – and the colourful section costumes (the theme this year is Inked) and youthful design has attracted first time carnival goers to their launch in huge numbers. “ Yes, a lot of the peo